Chapter 3 examines how the “Schlieffen Plan” turned the 1914 crisis between Austria and Serbia and Russia into a world war. The only plan the Germans had for dealing with a war with Russia in 1914 was based on a 1906 memo by General Alfred von Schlieffen arguing that the Germans must invade France before dealing with the Russians. In August 1914 the Germans had to quickly decide whether to implement Schlieffen’s plan, even though it would expand the war to include both the French British. Under pressure to do something right away the Kaiser was willing to say that Schlieffen’s gamble was worth the risk. Unfortunately for the Germans, things did not work out in their favor. German troops were finally stopped at the River Marne and both sides settled for a line of trenches that stretched from the English Channel to the Swiss border. The Schlieffen Plan was not, however, a complete failure. By the end of 1914 Germany controlled Belgium and a significant area of Northern France, and German victories at the battles of Masurian Lakes and Tannenberg had turned back the Russian invasion in East Prussia. That success boosted German confidence to continue the war.